Monday, 21 December 2009

Up, Down.For unto us a child is born, Handel's Messiah, London Symphony Orchestra.For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.Isaiah Chapter 9 Verse 6.

I confess to all of you that I am a little frustrated. Because we have been arguing about the question of climate for a long time and each time we again confirm and agree that the problem is graver than we can imagine. Thinking to contribute to the discussion at this conference, Brazil has taken a daring position. We present our goals for 2020.

We have undertaken a promise and approved it in the national Congress, making it into a law, that Brazil, by 2020, will reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses by between 36.1% and 38.9%, based on factors which we consider important: changes to the Brazilian agricultural system; changes to the Brazilian steel industry; changes and improvements to our energy grid, which is already one of the cleanest in the world; and we have undertaken the promise to reduce deforestation in the Amazon by 80% by 2020.

And we did this by constructing an economic structure which will oblige a developing country, with many economic difficulties, to spend 166 billion $US by 2020, the equivalent of 16 billion $US per year. This is not an easy task, but it was necessary to take these measures to show to the world that with half-hearted words and bargaining we will not find a solution at this conference in Copenhagen.

Last night I had the pleasure of participating, until two-thirty in the morning, in a meeting, which, to be truthful, I did not expect to attend, because it was a meeting where there were many Heads of State, the most prominent figures in the political world, and sincerely, to submit Heads of State to pointed discussions as we did before, it has been a long time since I attended such a meeting.

Yesterday I was at the meeting and I was remembering my time as a union leader, when we would be negotiation with business owners. And why should we have had such difficulty? Because we did not take care to work beforehand with the responsibility necessary for such work. The question is not only about money. Some people think that just money will resolve the problem. It did not resolve it in the past, it will not resolve it in the present, and will resolve it even less in the future. Money is important and poor countries need money to continue developing, to preserve the environment, and to preserve their forests. That's true.

But it is important that when we. the developing countries and the rich countries, think of money, that we do not think that we are doing a favour, that we do not think we are giving alms to the poor, because the money that will be put on the table is the payment for emission of greenhouse gasses during two centuries by those who had the privilege of industrializing first.

It is not bargaining about who has money and who does not have money. It is a much more serious engagement. It is a pledge to know if it is true or not what the scientists are saying, that global warming is irreversible. And therefore, who has more resources and more possibilities must guarantee a contribution to protect the neediest.

Everyone is in agreement that we need to guarantee no more than 2 degrees of warming by 2050. That far we are in agreement. Everyone is aware that we will only be able to build this agreement if countries take on, with grave responsibility, their goals. And even the goals, which should have been a simple thing, there are many of us wanting to bargain about goals. All of us could have offered a little more if we had acted with good will in the last stages of negotiation.

All of us know what is needed, to support promised goals and to support financial pledges, in whatever document which may be approved here, we must support the principles adopted in the Kyoto Protocol and the principles adopted in the United Nations Framework Convention. Because it is true that we have common responsibilities, and it is true that they are differentiated.

I never let myself forget that when I took power in 2003 my promise was to try to guarantee that every Brazilian man and woman would be able to have breakfast, lunch and supper. In the developed world this is a thing of the past. For Africa, for Latin America, and for many countries in Asia, it is still a thing of the future. And this is linked to the discussion we are having here, because we are not only arguing the question of climate. We are arguing about development and opportunites for all countries.

I had conversations with important leaders and I came to the conclusion that it was possible to build a political base that would be able to explain to the world that we, presidents and first-ministers and specialists, are very responsible and the we are going to find a solution. I still believe this, because I am an excessively optimistic person. But we have to play this game without thinking of winning and losing. It is true that countries which give money have the right to demand transparency, have the right even to demand proofs of the politics that were financed. But it is true that we must be very careful with this intrusion on developing countries and on the poorest countries. The experience that we have in our countries, whether it be the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank, it is not recommended that this continue in the 21st century.

What we need ... I am going to say something, in public, which I have not yet said in my country, have not said to my party and have not said to my Congress: if it were necessary to make yet another sacrifice, Brazil is inclined to give money as well to help other countries. We are inclined to participate in the financing if we place ourselves in accord with a final agreement, here at this meeting.

Now what we are not in agreement with is that the most important figures of the planet Earth will sign some document just to say that we have signed a document. I would love to leave here having signed the most perfect document in the world. But if we have not been able to accomplish it until now - my dear colleague Rasmussen and my colleague Bab Ki-moon I just don't know - if we have not succeeded in creating this document until now, I don't know if some angel or some wise man will descend into this meeting room and will put into our heads the intelligence that we have been missing until this very hour. I do not know.

I believe, as I believe in God, I believe in miracles, it could happen, and I want to be a part of it. But in order for this miracle to occur we need to take into account that there were two groups working on documents here, and we cannot forget. Therefore, the document is very important to the groups here.

Also, we could make a political document to serve as the basis of an umbrella, it is also possible to do that, if we understand three things: first, Kyoto, the United Nations Framework Convention, MRV (Measurement, Reporting and Verification), we cannot intrude on the sovereignty of countries - each country has to have the capability of regulating itself - and, at the same time, that money will be provided to the poorest countries.

Brazil did not come here to bargain. For our goals we don't need any external money. We will achieve them with our own resources, but we are inclined to go a step farther if we are able to resolve the problem that will be waiting, most importantly, maintaining development in developing countries. We passed a century without growing while others grew very much. Now that we are starting to grow it is not fair that we return to making sacrifices.

There are still many poor people in Brazil. Brazil has many poor people. In Africa there are many poor people. In India and China there are many poor people. And we also understand the role of the richest countries. They cannot be what will save us. What we want is simply, that together, rich and poor, we establish a common point that will let us leave here, proudly, saying to the four corners of the world that we are concerned with preserving the future of the planet Earth without sacrificing its primary scecies, which are the men, women and children who live in this world.